Configuring Document Preferences

You use the Document Preferences page to set document preferences. This section discusses these topics:

• Setting the Document Preferences

• Entering an Index Filename

• Selecting Directory Indexing

• Specifying a Server Home Page

• Specifying a Default MIME Type

These settings are all configured for the class, not individual virtual servers.

Setting the Document Preferences

To set the document preferences, follow these steps

To set the document preferences

1. From the Class Manager, click the Content Management tab.

2. Click Document Preferences.

3. Choose the appropriate field values, as discussed in the following sections.

4. Click OK.

   The preferences you can set are discussed more fully in the sections that follow. For additional information, see the online help for the Document Preferences page.

Entering an Index Filename

If a document name is not specified in the URL the server automatically displays the index file. The default index files are index.html and home.html. If more than one index file is specified, the server looks in the order in which the names appear in this field until one is found. For example, if your index filenames are index.html and home.html, the server looks for index.html and if it doesn’t find it looks for home.html.

Selecting Directory Indexing

A document directory will probably have several subdirectories. For example, there might be a directory called products, another called people, and so on. It’s often helpful to let clients access an overview (or index) of these directories.

The server indexes directories by searching the directory for an index file called index.html or home.html, which is a file you create and maintain as an overview of the directory’s contents. For more information, see the previous section, Entering an Index Filename. You can specify any file as an index file for a directory by naming it one of these default names, which means you can also use a CGI program as an index if CGI is activated.

If an index file is not found, the server generates an index file that lists all the files in the document root.

If your server is outside the firewall, turn off directory indexing to ensure that your directory structure and filenames are not accessible.

Specifying a Server Home Page

When end users first access the server, the first file they see is usually called a home page. Usually, this file has general information about your server and links to other documents.

By default, the server finds the index file specified in the Index Filename field in the Document Preferences page and uses that for the home page. However, you can also specify a file to use as the home page.

Specifying a Default MIME Type

When a document is sent to a client, the server includes a section that identifies the document’s type, so the client can present the document in the right way. Sometimes the server can not determine the proper type for the document because the document’s extension is not defined for the server. In those cases, a default value is sent.

The default is usually text/plain, but you should set it to the type of file most commonly stored on your server. Some common MIME types include the following: